When I heard the title Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die for the first time, I assumed the movie would be a blast and a half, and I figured it’d be pretty silly, too. That is all true. However, this film also terrifies me to no end, and that was a surprise. Now, I’ve had time to think about all of this, and overall, I’m thrilled that this outlandish sci-fi adventure that scares me got made.

In Gore Verbinski’s Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, a man from the future (Sam Rockwell) comes to a time that’s slightly more advanced than the present we live in to assemble a team of people to save the world from artificial intelligence. However, that team has to be made up of the seemingly random set of folks who are eating at a diner the future man enters. So, with his rag-tag group made up of a couple of teachers (Michael Peña and Zazie Beetz), a woman dressed as a princess (Haley Lu Richardson), a mom (Juno Temple), and a few other diner patrons, he sets out to save the world.

That concept alone proves just how silly this movie is, and the humor laced into it hammers the point home. However, along with this being a goofy story, it also has points to make about our society that genuinely freak me out.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a big silly swing of a movie.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die starts with Sam Rockwell’s character doing a big monologue about the future and his mission to a diner of confused people while wearing a bizarre plastic outfit that makes him look both more technologically advanced than us and homeless. And from his first second on screen, I knew I was in for a good time. Truly, from start to finish, his grisly and slightly unhinged future man is a hoot, and it feels like the Oscar-winner had a wonderful time playing him.

The fun he seems to be having is infectious, and when that mixes with the outlandish plot involving AI that is trying to take over the world, you get a very odd, big swing of a story.

It works for the most part, too, and it is a ride. However, this concept also sets that stage for some serious (and scary) discussions about the world we’re living in.

The social commentary in Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is what legitimately scares me.

I’ve always been a bit squeamish when it comes to movies about the end times; they spook me. However, they really scare me when the cause of said end times is something we’re currently dealing with in the present. It's the sprinkle of social commentary that always leaves me in a spiral, and that’s why Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die horrifies me.

In the case of this movie, that evil is AI. I’m not gonna lie: AI scares the living daylights out of me. So, the fact that artificial intelligence was the problem here immediately made me tense.

But that’s not what really gets me. What truly gets under my skin are two of the issues the various diner patrons deal with. The teachers have to handle students who are so brainwashed by their phones that they cannot function. Meanwhile, after a school shooting, a mom has to grapple with the death of her son and the technology available to help her get him back (in a way). In both cases, most of the people involved are hypnotized by technology and desensitized to the trauma around them.

I worry about how technology is hindering us as a society, and I have concerns about how desensitized we can become to truly awful things. So, to see both fears viscerally portrayed in this movie sent me spiraling a bit, even with the comedic sensibilities paired with them.

However, I think that's a good thing. I love that Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is a silly sci-fi quest that also has some dark social commentary in its DNA. It makes for a movie that you’ll have a good time watching, but will also think about afterward. I know it has certainly stuck with me, and that’s 100% because I did have fun, but also left terrified.

Filmmaker Gore Verbinski has been entertaining movie lovers for decades with films like The Ring, Pirates of the Caribbean and Rango, but after a couple of flops, he disappeared for a decade. Finally the director has returned with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, a sci-fi action-comedy that hits the 2026 movie calendar on February 13. Critics have seen the flick and are generally in agreement about this “bonkers” return.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die stars Sam Rockwell as a man from the future who’s caught in a time loop as he attempts to save the world from the A.I.-dominated era he came from. Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Juno Temple and more also star in the flick that’s being celebrated by critics including Kristy Puchko of Mashable, who calls Gore Verbinski’s middle finger to A.I. “earnest and human and utterly bonkers,” writing:

Chris Bumbray of JoBlo rates the upcoming action film a “Great” 8 out of 10, admitting that Gore Verbinski is taking a wild swing with Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, but it’s one of the more “invigorating and original pieces of sci-fi” the critic has seen in a long time. Bumbray says:

Peter Debruge of Variety says Sam Rockwell carries the comedy of the movie, particularly with his character’s exaggerated impatience with a society that needs to be scolded as much as it needs to be saved. Debruge’s review of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die reads:

Aidan Kelley of Collider also gives it an 8 out of 10, saying this “raucous” sci-fi action flick is filled to the brim with absurdist comedy, creative insults, frenetic camera work and insightful commentary on the state of the world. In Kelley's words:

David Rooney of THR says it’s good to have Gore Verbinski back behind the camera, and Sam Rockwell is great with his “wry balance of doofus, savant and wisea--,” but it falls just short of expectations with a script that isn’t as funny or fresh as it should be. Rooney continues:

Most of the reviews for Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die are positive, with the movie standing at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. If fighting an A.I.-dominated future is at the top of your to-do list (or must-see list!), check out Gore Verbinski’s return to filmmaking starting Friday, February 13.

The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have been some of Disney’s most successful live-action films that aren’t called Marvel or Star Wars. For that reason, it’s not exactly a shock that there have been plans to make more of them. However, it’s clearly been difficult to do so. The project has been in development for years, and there are reportedly multiple scripts being worked on.

One of the big questions fans have is whether or not Johnny Depp will return as Captain Jack Sparrow. Initially, it was reported that the franchise was moving on without him. However, producer Jerry Bruckheimer wants him back, and one version of a potential script would apparently include him in a major role. However, there’s another franchise return I would love to see even more in director Gore Verbinski. Unfortunately, he tells ScreenRant that he doesn’t have much interest in returning. He said…

Whatever else happens with the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the choice of who directs is going to be a key one, and honestly, going back to the beginning and grabbing Gore Verbinski wouldn’t be a terrible choice. He’s proven he can do it, though it appears that’s exactly why he doesn’t want to do it. He seems more interested in new challenges than old ones.

Gore Verbinski directed the original Pirates of the Caribbean film, which was a smash success. This led to him returning to helm the next two sequels, which were filmed back-to-back. While I don’t think any movie in the series holds a candle to the original, the trilogy is still pretty solid and far better than the two sequels that followed it.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was directed by Rob Marshall, who has shown in recent years that he belongs behind big musicals, as he had much better success at Disney with Mary Poppins Returns and the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. The most recent film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, was helmed by Joachim Rønning, who has since gone on to direct other Disney sequels with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Tron: Ares.

Of course, before Disney can find a director, it has to find a script, and that’s apparently been the sticking point for this franchise for nearly a decade. Multiple writing teams have worked on ideas over the years. High-profile projects, including one that could star Margot Robbie, have been worked on, and while that project may not be as dead as we once thought, a different script is apparently the one being focused on now. Perhaps Disney’s new Chief Creative Officer can help figure out how to get these pirates sailing again.

Keira Knightley has had some incredible roles over the years, from a fun teen comedy, Bend it Like Beckham, to Pride & Prejudice, to Atonement, to The Imitation Game. But for many fans, she’ll always be Elizabeth Swann, the fearless, sharp-witted heroine from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And while she made swashbuckling and sword-fighting look easy, it turns out filming wasn’t always smooth sailing for the actress—especially when it came to stunts.

In a behind-the-scenes clip recently shared by the Instagram account Cineatomy, Knightley revealed that she initially thought the movies based on theme park attractions would be a breezy job. But she quickly realized the action-packed role had other plans for her. She recalled:

One particularly nerve-wracking moment came when she had to perform a high dive off a ship's plank. She admitted that standing on the plank for two whole days had her completely petrified. When director Gore Verbinski told her she didn’t have to go through with the stunt, she wasn’t about to back down. She continued:

Talk about dedication! And while she may have been terrified, she was all smiles once she hit the water. She recounted:

It’s safe to say Knightley’s Pirates of the Caribbean experience was far more in line with the best action movies than she anticipated. From epic sword fights to daring escapes, Elizabeth Swann held her own alongside Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, proving to be one of the franchise’s best characters.

Though she bowed out of the series after At World's End (only briefly returning for a cameo in Dead Men Tell No Tales), the Black Doves performer’s portrayal of Elizabeth remains iconic. And knowing she tackled many of her own stunts makes her performance even more impressive.

For fans wanting to relive Keira Knightley's swashbuckling adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its sequels are available to stream with a Disney+ subscription. There’s been a lot of buzz about what’s next for the franchise, but one thing’s for sure: thanks to the young actress’s energy, Elizabeth Swann will always be a sea legend.

Keira Knightley's next big project is a book-to-movie adaptation of The Woman in Cabin 10, which is hopefully set to be released sometime in the 2025 movie schedule.

Following Disney’s first few attempts to adapt one of its own theme park attractions into a feature-length film — Tower of Terror, Mission to Mars, and The Country Bear — nobody expected that the fourth time would be the charm. There was also some fear regarding its chances at the box office, including among some of the cast members, considering how even the best pirate movies did not have a great success rate at the time. However, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ended up raking in a lot of booty, spawning a franchise that may not be finished yet, and even prompting renovations to the ride that inspired it with specific references.

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since we first saw famed pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) joining forces with young blacksmith Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) to take on the cursed Capt. Hector Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) and rescue the kidnapped Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). In honor of this milestone, we have dug deep to find some of the hidden treasures lurking beneath this beloved, adventurous blockbuster — some of which may have you jolly as a Roger, and others that will cause you to shiver your timbers. See for yourself by scoping out these behind-the-scenes facts from the first (and, arguably, the best of the) Pirates of the Caribbean movies — starting with a glimpse at how different the film may have been if a certain filmmaking legend was made captain of the crew.

Steven Spielberg Was Interested In Directing

I think most movie lovers would agree that, when it comes to directors, one of the most reliable names in action, adventure, and high-wire thrills must be Steven Spielberg — the helmer of classic blockbusters like Jaws, the Indiana Jones movies, and Jurassic Park, most notably. Given his reputation at the time, the Academy Award winner might have been a good choice to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and, apparently, he could have if things turned out differently.

According to ScreenRant, the movie was first pitched in the early 1990s and caught the attention of Spielberg, whose take on the material did not quite match Disney’s intentions. He also had some unique potential actors in mind to play Capt. Jack — namely Bill Murray, Steve Martin, or the Peter Pan from his own pirate adventure, Hook: the late Robin Williams. With much respect and admiration for Spielberg and those brilliant comedic actors, I think it was for the best that the movie stayed shelved for a while.

The Director Wanted To Make The Movie Feel The Way The Original Ride Made Him Feel As A Kid 

Directorial duties for the first Pirates would ultimately go to Gore Verbinski, who was previously best known for one of the best horror movie remakes of its time, 2002’s The Ring, and would also later reteam with Depp for a few projects outside the franchise — namely 2011’s Oscar-winning Rango and the Razzie-winning The Lone Ranger from 2013. What seemed to make the filmmaker a good fit for this kind of film was his affinity for the source material. 

According to the DVD commentary for Black Pearl (via Film School Rejects), what Verbinski loved about Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean attraction as a child was how it managed to frighten him, but also make him laugh. He decided to honor that tone by making his adaptation scary and funny. As a swashbuckling adventure story with walking skeletons and a drunken lead character, I would say he nailed it in that regard.

Robert De Niro Was Reportedly Approached To Play Capt. Jack Sparrow

Of course, I think most would also agree that a good deal of credit for Black Pearl’s humor should go to Johnny Depp’s Academy Award-nominated performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Nowadays, it is impossible to imagine anyone else embodying what is considered one of Depp’s greatest characters, but he was not actually the first choice.

According to an article by U.K.-based news outlet, Express, none other than the legendary Robert De Niro was reportedly offered to play Capt. Jack, and even beat Jim Carrey for the role, but ultimately passed on it, fearing the film would suffer the same fate many other pirate movies had. The article goes on to say that, when his suspicions over the box office returns were proved wrong, the regretful Academy Award winner took a role in another swashbuckling fantasy adventure: the 2007 adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust… which actually turned out to be a flop.   

Johnny Depp Based Jack Sparrow On Keith Richards And Pepe Le Pew

Depp’s unique inspiration for how he would portray Capt. Jack — an unlikely (almost reluctant) hero who finds himself, literally, stumbling into some badass action moments in a drunken stupor — is almost as famous as the character himself. In an interview promoting the somewhat successful fifth installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the actor recalled to ET Canada who his muses were.

He believed that because pirates were the “rock stars” of their time, he should try to emulate the personality of the one he believed was the all-time greatest rock star, Keith Richards, and fuse that with the rambunctiousness of one of pop culture’s most famous “lotharios,” Pepe Le Pew. While there is very little chance of Depp sharing the screen with the skunky, canceled Looney Tunes character any time soon, The Rolling Stones’ guitarist would join the franchise as Jack’s father.

Barbossa’s Personality Naturally Came Out Once Geoffrey Rush Put On His Hat

Jack Sparrow’s rival and his forced successor as captain of the Black Pearl, Hector Barbossa, also boasts a memorably boisterous personality that kept him a welcome staple of the franchise (until the end of Dead Men Tell No Tales, that is). Apparently, for Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush, getting into character did not require much thought.

While taking turns asking fan-generated questions for MovieFone’s Unscripted with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End co-stars Bill Nighy and Chow Yun-Fat, Rush initially joked that his inspiration for Barbossa was also Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew. In reality, however, all it took was putting on the “brain of the character”: his hat, with a feather that suggested his “self-diluting flourishes of romantic grandeur” and a large, black brim that invoked the unbridled ego Barbossa wears on his sleeve.

Jack Sparrow’s Hat Had To Be Made Of Rubber 

While Capt. Jack’s hat was not quite as important to Depp’s initial development of his character, it is just as (if not more) iconic than Barbossa’s hat. However, there is an interesting fact about the prop that makes it particularly special.

On the docuseries Prop Culture (which is no longer available on Disney+, unfortunately), Black Pearl’s costume designer, Penny Rose, showed host and co-creator Dan Lanigan the hat that Depp wore in the movie, which she mentioned was made of rubber. Reason being: the original design kept getting thrown overboard and, after losing 10 copies, she decided to craft one out of a material that would stay afloat.

Keira Knightley’s Cleavage Was Painted On Her Body To Play Elizabeth Swann

Jack’s rubber hat is not even the craziest story relating to costuming or makeup from the set of Black Pearl. That honor very easily goes to what Keira Knightley had to go through in order for the then-17-year-old to be visually up to par with how Disney envisioned her role as Elizabeth Swann.

The two-time Academy Award nominee told Refinery29 that her bust appears larger in the film than it does in reality because her cleavage was “literally painted on,” which she chalked up to being just another day in Hollywood at the time. Still, for her, I imagine it must have been quite a thing to go through for the sake of a film she did not have much faith in to begin with.

Keira Knightley Believed That The Movie Would Bomb

Robert De Niro was not the only one who had low faith in the commercial potential for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. However, some people who felt the same way still wound up appearing in the movie, such as Knightley.

The British actor was pretty convinced that this very expensive film was destined to flop — a fact that we learned not from her own mouth, but by the testimony of her previous collaborator, Richard Curtis, during an interview with ABC News. According to the filmmaker, Knightley was starring as Juliet in Love Actually when he asked about her next project, to which she replied, “I don’t think it’s going to work. It’s a pirate film and they always fail.”

Gore Verbinski Convinced Jack Davenport To Star By Positing The Movie Could Be The Best Pirates Film In Decades

Another Black Pearl cast member who did not have the highest hopes for the film was Jack Davenport. Then best known for the hit British sitcom, Coupling, he would find new fame among American audiences by appearing in the film as Commodore James Norrington, but it took a little convincing. 

In an interview with ScreenSlam, Davenport was asked if he was ever a fan of pirate movies as a child before admitting he was not and, furthermore, did not believe there had been many “decent contemporary pirate films” in a while. However, he then mentions how Verbinski convinced him that, after “50 years” of disappointing big screen, swashbuckling adventures, this could be the one that would break the curse.

Zoe Saldaña Had A Negative Experience On Set

As we now know, Black Pearl would beat the odds by making more than $654 million worldwide (according to Box Office Mojo) and seemed to be a great success for everyone involved. Well, as it turns out, making the film actually proved to be dissatisfying for one then-up-and-coming cast member, Zoe Saldaña, who recalled the experience to The Hollywood Reporter in the following excerpt:

That explains why we never saw more of her character, Black Pearl crew member Anamaria, in further installments. Luckily, Saldaña would become more adept to the Hollywood experience, earn leading roles in multiple franchises (Avatar, Star Trek, and the MCU as Guardians of the Galaxy’s Gamora), and is now one of the top 10 highest-grossing actors of all time.

Hopefully, you found great reward in these behind the facts about The Curse of the Black Pearl. Now, all we can do is wonder if more treasures in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise are just over the horizon. 

Just when we thought that things had started to level off in the X-Men universe, it seems that one of the franchise's most rocky projects has hit yet another snag. Remember Gambit? Well, it now it appears that the film has once again lost its director, as Gore Verbinksi has officially dropped out of the film.

Despite a few months of significant developments on the Gambit front, this obviously represents a massive setback for the film. Gore Verbinski signed on to the X-Men spinoff in October, which led to a series of subsequent casting rumors and potential plotlines surfacing online. However, as of today, Verbinksi has officially dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. Gambit was supposedly going to begin shooting in February, but it seems safe to assume that's no longer going to happen with the director out of the picture.

The Deadline report confirming Gore Verbinksi's exit from Gambit also mentions that the split with 20th Century Fox has been "amicable," as the A Cure For Wellness director just could not remain onboard Gambit because of his own schedule. This feels somewhat different from the similar departure of Edge of Tomorrow director Doug Liman, who claimed to leave Gambit because he was not able to forge a meaningful connection with the story's material. Based on that rationale, it doesn't sound like there was any ill-will between Verbinski and the studio; it was just a matter of timing.

One thing worth noting about Gambit losing its director is how the potential X-Men offshoot could be affected by the recent $52 billion Disney-Fox merger. Rumors related to the landmark business deal have suggested that projects currently in development will be placed under review and kept or dropped on a case-by-case basis, depending on their success and progress. Gambit is far behind finished films like New Mutants and Deadpool 2, but it also seems to be further through development than something like the rumored X-23 spinoff. Losing Gore Verbinksi sets Gambit back by several vital steps, and the next few months will likely prove interesting as we learn more about its fate.

Even without Gore Verbinksi's involvement, the Gambit movie is still shaping up as one of the X-Men franchise's more unique projects -- if it ever actually gets made, that is. The film is rumored to be a heist movie set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, with the titular mutant (played by Channing Tatum, who has remained attached to the project through all of the drama) being hired by Mister Sinister to steal a chest from the Thieves Guild. It's an interesting concept, but we will just have to wait and see what (if anything) comes of it.

CinemaBlend will bring you more information on this bizarre Gambit situation as new details become available to us. The film remains locked in place for its February 14, 2019 release date, but we will keep you posted if that changes. Looking through the rest of this year's biggest movies, you can take a look at our 2018 movie premiere guide to see what's on the horizon!

It would seem that the X-Men franchise's Gambit movie is finally coming together. Late last week brought the news that Gore Verbinski has been in discussions about directing the feature, and now 20th Century Fox is confident enough to lock the comic book feature in for a February 14, 2019 release date.

When I spoke with producer Simon Kinberg earlier this year just prior to the theatrical release of Logan, he told me that star Channing Tatum was still "incredibly committed" to Gambit and that production was eyeing an early 2018 start. It looks like that will be exactly what happens in the future development of the project, given the release date news that was just dropped by Deadline.

The hitch that comes with this news is that we're not entirely sure we can trust it. After all, this isn't the first time that Gambit has had a release date, as it was originally supposed to come out on October 7, 2016. This target was ultimately missed because the film had the hardest time trying to keep a director on board. First Bennett Miller, Darren Aronofsky, Gareth Evans and J. C. Chandor all turned down the chance to helm. Then Rupert Wyatt officially signed on (in June 2015), but he wound up departing a few months later (September 2015). Doug Liman came aboard to replace him weeks after that (November 2015), but then he left the next summer (August 2016). The project has existed in limbo ever since.

To Gambit's credit, things do seem to finally be coming together. Gore Verbinski is a seasoned blockbuster filmmaker, and, according to Channing Tatum, the studio's development strategy has significantly changed thanks to the successes of Deadpool and Logan (implying the movie could be R-rated). There is a story to tell, with a narrative reportedly charting the mutant's origins in New Orleans, and history with the villainous Mister Sinister, so it might actually all work out.

As for the release date itself, it's noteworthy that Fox has had some luck with Valentines Day. The studio made the interesting choice to also make that the launching weekend for Deadpool last year, and while the film did face some apparent competition in Zoolander 2, it wound up becoming one of the biggest R-rated blockbusters of all time. Surely Fox is hoping that Gambit can follow suit in 2019, with the only current competition being the comedy Isn't It Romantic starring Rebel Wilson.

If Gambit does indeed start filming at the start of 2018, that means that the next few months should be filled with updates as more pieces of the production start coming together. As always, we'll be sure to bring you all of the latest news, casting updates and more, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend!

The X-Men movie franchise has been making great strides with expanding beyond the main series, but one project that's had trouble getting off the ground is Gambit. One of the obstacles the spinoff centered on the card-throwing mutant (who will be played by Channing Tatum) has faced is losing two directors, Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman. But as the old saying goes, the third time's the charm. According to a new report, Pirates of the Caribbean's Gore Verbinski is now in the running to oversee Gambit.

Per THR, Gore Verbinksi is in early talks to direct Gambit. While Verbinksi is no stranger to working on blockbusters after helming the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, if he finalizes a deal with 20th Century Fox, this will be his first directing a superhero movie. Verbinski's other notable credits include The Weather Man, Rango, The Lone Ranger and A Cure for Wellness.

Gore Verbinski's potential involvement in Gambit is the latest development in the project's tumultuous journey. Originally scheduled for be released on October 7, 2016, Rise of the Planet of the Apes' Rupert Wyatt was hired in June 2015 to direct the Ragin' Cajun's solo adventure. But by September of the same year, Wyatt departed Gambit due to scheduling conflicts. Two months later, The Bourne Identity's Doug Liman was tapped at Wyatt's replacement, and soon after the 2016 release date was dropped. By August 2016, Liman had signed on to direct Justice League Dark for the DC Extended Universe, resulting in his departure from Gambit (though he would later leave Justice League Dark, too). Last December, it was rumored that The Shawshank Redemption's Frank Darabont was in consideration to direct Gambit, but now Verbinski is the new top contender.

Introduced to the comics in 1990, Gambit, whose real name is Remy LeBeau, is able to channel convert the potential energy stored in an object and turn it into pure kinetic energy, causing them to explode. He primarily uses his mutant ability on playing cards, charging them with energy and then throwing them as projectiles. He also frequently charges his handy bo staff; not to the point where it will explode, but where it will still pack a powerful "punch." In addition to his appearances in X-Men: The Animated Series (where he was a main character), X-Men: Evolution and Wolverine and the X-Men, as well as numerous video games, Gambit was previously portrayed on the silver screen by Taylor Kitsch in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

We here at CinemaBlend will keep you updated on how the Gambit movie is progressing as more updates come in. For now, you can look through our X-Men movie guide to find out what else the franchise has coming up.

You probably missed A Cure For Wellness during its theatrical release, as the film sadly did not perform all that well in its February release. But with the film's Digital HD release today, it's a good time to talk about something that even fans of the film didn't get to see in theaters. As it turns out, there's an extra piece of material slated for the film's Blu-ray release, as it was cut for one of the most legendary reasons: it helped the movie move a bit faster.

The film's director, Gore Verbinski, made this admission, when I had the chance to talk to him about the film last week. Obviously, when a film is touting excised material coming to home video, there's a good story behind why the material was cut, and Verbinski didn't disappoint in that department. When asked about why he trimmed this material out of the film, he had told me the following:

Ultimately, the sequence that's included on the Blu-ray release of A Cure For Wellness had the potential to break the audience out of the atmosphere that the film had cultivated in all of the events that came before it. With the methodical pacing that the film engages in through its first two acts, this sequence, dubbed "Embryonic," would have definitely derailed the tracks so carefully laid in the film's first two acts. But instead of deleting the material, and losing it to obscurity, Gore Verbinski and his editors did something unique as a tribute to the fans, and these moments now removed from the film.

Most distributors would be tempted to put each one of those individual scenes back onto the Blu-ray as a "Deleted Scenes" special feature. But just as A Cure For Wellness is a unique film with a story that stands out, Gore Verbinski wanted to make something special for the fans of the film with those leftover bits. As it turns out, this deleted sequence was a combination of odds and ends cut from A Cure For Wellness, edited into a visual collage that not only provides fans with something new, but also kind of helps sell the film out of the context of the actual movie. Gore Verbinski explained as follows:

As with any other under-appreciated film, such as A Cure For Wellness, home video is a sanctuary where folks who missed it the first time around will be able to jump into the fun. To help convince you folks that this film is worth the Digital HD purchase you can make today, we have the exclusive "deleted sequence" that basically sums up the experience of A Cure For Wellness is aiming for. Prepare for a head rush of thrilling visuals, and watch for yourself below.

If you're a fan of A Cure For Wellness, this sequence is an extra treat, baked from the bits of the mix that were trimmed from the final cut. But don't fear if you haven't seen the film yet, as the information in this clip didn't spoil anything for you, and should serve as an appetizer to the full experience. You can enjoy the experience of A Cure For Wellness, as it's currently available on Digital HD, with the Blu-ray / DVD release coming next Tuesday, June 6.

We live in an era defined by platitudes, and one of the most politically significant phrases that have risen in recent weeks is the concept of "fake news." Whether you love or hate the phrase, there's no denying that the idea has become a highly controversial subject that has incited passionate responses from people all over the country. As it turns out, 20th Century Fox recently tried to capitalize on the "fake news" trend while promoting its new film A Cure For Wellness, and the stunt did not go over as planned. People have become incensed by the marketing ploy, and now the studio has officially issued an apology for the crazy stunt.

According to a recent report from Deadline, 20th Century Fox has officially issued an apology for its recent fake news marketing stunt. In an attempt to promote the recent release of A Cure For Wellness, the studio released an extensive array of bizarre and outlandish fabricated news stories. Among these headlines were rumors of President Donald Trump personally meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as reports that Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime show was performed in honor of Muslims. Many real news outlets actually picked up the fake news stories, and the fallout of this stunt has angered news consumers, as well as members of the journalism community. It is not necessarily hard to understand why.

The issue seems to have upset people on a number of different levels. For starters, nobody likes to be deceived for any reason. However, on a deeper level, this situation also feels incredibly problematic because fake news has already become a genuinely difficult issue for contemporary media outlets to contend with. News consumers already have enough trouble sifting through fabricated content designed to sway modern politics; they do not need these ridiculous headlines that serve no other purpose than promoting a movie.

Despite the controversy, it is still worth noting that many of us who have seen the film have fallen in love with it. Although the movie has generally polarized critics since reviews started to flow in (as horror movies are wont to do) A Cure For Wellness made a very powerful impression on CinemaBlend's own Mike Reyes -- who subsequently gave the film a perfect 5/5 star rating in his recent review.

Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness is currently in theaters. Stay tuned for more details!

The subject of a Bioshock film has been thrown about here and there a lot lately, all thanks to Gore Verbinski's return to the horror genre with A Cure For Wellness. Well, that, and thanks to the details and concept art released pertaining to the project having an extremely long life on the internet. Ultimately though, the idea's longevity could be chalked up to the fan demand for a proper film adaptation of Rapture's fall and redemption through the hands of the protagonist. A story that, according to Verbinski, was either going to be told the right way or not told at all.

Sadly, Gore Verbinski's recent Reddit AMA confirmed that Bioshock's story wasn't told because of that steadfast dedication to doing it the right way. The tale of the film's collapse, and just how close it came to success, are told in the following answer to a fan's question:

With a $200 million price tag, and an R-rating on the line, Bioshock was one of two video game adaptations that scared Universal away from ultimately producing finished products. That other film was what would have been Neill Blomkamp and Peter Jackson's Halo adaptation, which was similar, if not identical, to the problematic specs mentioned previously. Though that figure is nothing to sniff at, both Bioshock and Halo have huge fan-bases that could have brought Universal a whole bunch of box office business. Of course, the tune the studio is singing now might be slightly different, as they made an international hit out of a risky, albeit safer rated prospect: Warcraft.

While the rating wasn't an issue, the buzz surrounding Duncan Jones' Warcraft was certainly tinged with anxiety and downright rejection, as well as a resounding "meh" when it came to the actual finished project. And somehow, the international market took to the film like a duck to hyper-charged water, particularly with the Chinese market. What was budgeted as a $160 million albatross became a $433.6 million phoenix that has us seriously wondering if we'll be seeing a sequel announced anytime soon. Then again, production partner Legendary Entertainment was helping foot the bill on that one, whereas no such luck visited Bioshock.

It doesn't look like we'll be seeing a Bioshock movie any time soon, despite fan demand and Take Two Games saddling up to get into the movie making business itself. But if there's any hope that the film will be revived, surely it should include Gore Verbinski and his visionary eye for the world of Rapture. It's been proven time and again that his skill set would be perfect for Andrew Ryan's world, warts and all, and to see the project come to fruition without him would be just as disappointing as it was the first time the prospect was cancelled.

A Cure For Wellness begins administering its treatments to patients this Friday, February 17.

Horror and thrillers are some of the trickiest genres of film. While they have the potential to produce tons of money on limited budgets, the process of routinely terrifying the actors (and eventually the audience) during filming is something unique. Plenty of horror actors and scream queens have opened up regarding the emotional or physical trauma they have suffered while working in the genre, like Shelley Duvall in The Shining. So when I got the chance to speak with Dane DeHaan about Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness, I was eager to hear the horror stories behind the horror.

When speaking with Dane DeHaan about his lead role in A Cure for Wellness, I asked which scene was the most difficult or scary to film. And while he went through tons of crazy and scary scenes (you'll see), it appears that his work in the sensory deprivation tank we see in the trailers was the hardest. He elaborated:

You know that feeling of being in a pool for too long and feeling your fingers getting wrinkled? That was basically Dane DeHaan's reality for the weeks it took to film his scenes in the tank.

The scene where Dane DeHaan's character Lockhart was in the sensory deprivation tank is one of many thrilling and scary moments from A Cure for Wellness. And it makes sense that production was forced to film the scene for two whole weeks. Not to give away any spoilers, but there was a significant amount of CGI used during the sequence, so it stands to reason that plenty of extra shots were needed in the can before the visual effects artists and editors could craft the movie magic. And having a variable as big as a full tank of water and oxygen tubes is sure to result in a longer shoot time than traditional scenes.

You can check out my full conversation with Dane DeHaan about the soon to be infamous tank scenes below.

Dane DeHaan did have to be quite brave in order to shoot in the tank for so long. Because communication can only be done through hand signals, and he was already acting in a scary scene, there seems to be a terrifying margin for error. We saw just how bad this type of filming could get in Now You See Me; actress Isla Fisher nearly drowned while filming a scene where she had to escape from a water tank. While she attempted to signal the crew for help, it just seemed like Fisher was doing a phenomenal job acting as if she was drowning. But she was actually calling for help, and luckily was saved before suffering any permanent damage.

A Cure for Wellness will swim into theaters on February 17. Read our full review for the movie by clicking right here.

Actors have a tricky job. Because while it's challenging enough to become immersed in filming and transform into a character, there are usually quite a few obstacles in their way. From hitting your mark to fight choreography, performers usually have to split their focus between their physical presence and emotional journey. And this process can be even more challenging when actors are put out of their comfort zone or physically interrupted in some way. Case in point: Dan DeHaan in Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness. As the protagonist, DeHaan found himself in some precarious positions while filming, including having to wear a cast on his leg for around half of the film's runtime.

I recently got to speak with Dane DeHaan about his work on A Cure for Wellness. Among other subjects, I asked him how working with that bulky cast for so long was. Surprisingly, he actually enjoyed lugging the clunker around set during filming. He said,

Well that's what I call turning lemons into lemonade (hey Beyonce).

While it might seem crazy to grow fond of a heavy cast that restricts your movement, Dane DeHaan makes a pretty excellent point. During the film we see how DeHaan's character Lockhart attempt to procure his company's CEO, only to get into a car accident that breaks his leg. This physical limitation functions two fold; it allows both the audience and the the character to accept that he's going to have a hard time leaving the wellness center. Otherwise, the suspension of disbelief would have been far too much considering the craziness that A Cure for Wellness entails. And as an actor, DeHaan was given physical asset to help him live within Lockhart's psyche.

You can check out more from my conversation with Dane DeHaan below, also known as his ode to the cast.

Lockhart's broken leg was just one of many moments in A Cure for Wellness that has the potential to make the audience extremely uncomfortable. Anyone who has ever seen The Ring knows that Gore Verbinski has a way of inducing anxiety and fear from audiences.

A Cure for Wellness will debut in theaters on February 17th, 2017.

Back in 2008, after delivering the successful Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to Disney's eager hands, Gore Verbinski had a special project in mind. An adaptation of the hit video game Bioshock was Verbinski's dream, and Universal was looking to help him make it into a reality. Part of the reason was probably because the series was so popular, making a huge impact on the pop culture of gamers at the time, but the other half had to have been the fact that the Pirates films did so damned well. Yet neither of those facts could save Gore Verbinski from the fact that the studio balked over two crucial elements: the proposed R-rating and the $200 million budget. It's for those reasons that the director left the project, which eventually folded; though after seeing A Cure For Wellness, it's clear that he's still got the project on his mind... and he should, without a question, be given the chance to bring it to life.

Without spoiling A Cure For Wellness, the film's resemblance to the story of Rapture's fall is pretty uncanny, without being a total ripoff. The new film centers its story around a health spa that isolates its patients from the outside world, getting them away from the rush and boom of the modern era. This is extremely similar to Andrew Ryan's creed of "No Gods. No Kings. Only Men" occupying the halls of Rapture. And, of course, the recurring theme of splicing and surgical / medical augmentation are a natural analog to the Cure for Wellness character Dr. Volmer's obsession with the "treatment" that he administers to all of his patients at his eponymous institute.

But besides the thematic similarities between A Cure For Wellness and Bioshock, you can tell in the film's visual language that Gore Verbinski clearly isn't done with this story yet. As far as the two problems facing the proposed Bioshock film are concerned, one would probably be easier to lick than the other. Obviously, the R-rating for the film is non-negotiable. The violence, the body modifications, and even the potential harvesting of Little Sisters are all fodder for gore-soaked nightmares, and it's just a part of the game's visual DNA. To tone it down to PG-13 levels would betray the material, and just plain suck.

However, depending on what the budget for A Cure For Wellness was, Gore Verbinski has proven that he can adapt the decaying, underwater world of Rapture with perfection. Take the Volmer Institut's setting, grime it up, throw in some wreckage and flooded passages, and you've basically got Andrew Ryan's haven. Not to mention, if the film takes advantage of funding perks courtesy of the German government, much like Cure did, it'd hedge the financial bet. So with a level headed financial plan, and some assistance from the outside, a studio that wanted to make a Bioshock film could sleep soundly, as the game series is still quite popular with its fans.

Even better is the fact that Bioshock has been around for over a decade, which not only ensures die hard citizens of Rapture would be flocking to the theater, but also that curious newcomers would be distanced enough from the start of the fad that they might feel more inclined to approach the series fresh. And should the film succeed, the advantage would be that there's two more games that could be adapted to form a Bioshock trilogy, with the opportunity being presented to not only tie all three films together, but to also rework the stories of Bioshock 2 and Bioshock: Infinite, so that they fit into an overarching narrative.

Most importantly though, A Cure For Wellness has only proven that Gore Verbinski is more than ready to bring Bioshock to the big screen. He was more than likely ready after making the Pirates of the Caribbean, but considering how similar his latest film is to the first game in the series, it basically serves as an informal audition to be given the job once again. In fact, the best piece of proof that we have to make this argument comes from an interview our own Sean O'Connell had with Gore Verbinski about whether or not his research for Bioshock informed his writing and directing process on A Cure For Wellness. Verbinski responded to that line of questioning with the following admission:

The world of Rapture is still buried in the mind of Gore Verbinski, and A Cure For Wellness is a beautiful reminder of what could have been. It's also a good indication of what could be, should someone give him the right opportunity to resurrect the horrors and splendor that is Rapture. Hollywood, would you kindly give Mr. Verbinski the chance he needs to make this a reality? It's about time you did.

A Cure For Wellness will arrive in theaters on February 17th, and if you want to see what we thought of it, you can read our review here. If you need any further convincing that Bioshock's time has come, there's no greater example than that film.

Before his heady days guiding Johnny Depp through four Disney movies, Gore Verbinski made a name for himself with a particularly effective horror film: the 2002 American remake of The Ring. Back before the days of jump scare-dependent PG-13 offerings, or R-rated torture porn, Verbinski created an atmospheric tale of dread and fear that remembered to make its horror out of actual materials, and not just turning up the volume on a slamming door. Now he's returned to the genre with the brilliant A Cure For Wellness, and frankly, it's a film that proves he belongs in this genre, as Gore Verbinski has delivered the best horror throwback we've seen since Crimson Peak.

Mr. Lockhart (Dane DeHaan) is working for a shady financial outfit that's going through some woes borne out of an impending merger. To prove himself to the board, and in the name of successfully closing the merger, he's sent to the Swiss Alps to retrieve the company's errant CEO. However, a car crash and a helpful but mysterious physician (Jason Isaacs) keep preventing him from going home, drawing him deeper into a mystery surrounding this idyllic spa that no one seems to ever want to leave.

Part of the fun of watching A Cure For Wellness is the fact that the film is constantly a gorgeous treat to look at. From the costume design to the backdrops of the Swiss Alps and Hohenzollern Castle (where Verbinski filmed), everything on the screen has a pleasing aesthetic that offsets the horrors that eventually overtake the film. But using such visuals helps the film build a slow stream of dread and enclosure. Rather than give the viewers a jump cut-laden, door-slamming tale of a boogeyman, Verbinski allows his film to play out in front of your eyes, and doesn't force the scares. If anything, you'll scare yourself expecting the traditional sting of music or elements of surprise.

A Cure For Wellness is what happens when you mix the noir-ish shades of Shutter Island with the Hammer Horror overtones of Crimson Peak, and mix in a dash of Bioshock for good measure. Yet the film never feels too derivative of any of those sources, as the story stands on its own two feet. If anything, with the right mindset, the film also doubles as a political satire, as a spa of eager patrons shut out the modern world in favor of a simpler time. Quite possibly the best compliment that can be paid to the story, a product of the imaginations of Gore Verbinski and co-writer Justin Haythe, is that it's not totally spoiled by the commercials. In fact, it's dense and twisted enough that the best parts aren't even shown in the marketing. How often can one say that?

As far as the performances are concerned, the starring trio of A Cure For Wellness more than carries this gothic noir horror tale. Dane DeHaan shows off his imitation of Jack Nicholson to great effect, as Lockhart starts off as a cocky ladder climber and slowly unravels into a man who can't help but question his surroundings. Jason Isaacs, on the other hand, portrays the head of the institute, Dr. Volmer, with control and confidence to spare. For a while, you really do question if he's the villain of the piece, as the film plays its mysteries with such conviction that it causes us, the viewer, to question our perception of what's going on. And finally, but assuredly not least important, is Mia Goth's Hannah. A resident of the spa, and a "special case" for Dr. Volmer's research, her fairy tale innocence is matched only by her curiosity for the world, which gives the film a couple of great lighter moments that break up the terrifying nature of the film.

Films like A Cure For Wellness don't come around that often, and that's a real shame. Methodically paced, beautifully orchestrated, and deliciously creepy, Gore Verbinski's return to horror really made me sad he never got to make his Bioshock film at Universal. You can tell that Fox is concerned that people are going to reject this film, as its release was moved from last August to this February, usually a slower period at the multiplex. Don't let that happen. I urge you, the audience, to engage in this beautifully dark trip into the sinister corners of cinema, and take A Cure For Wellness as it's directed: in a comfortable theater, with eyes open and popcorn in hand, ready to be impressed by the first true horror film in years.

People forget that before he set sail for a trio of Pirates of the Caribbean movies over at Disney, Gore Verbinski staked his claim in the horror genre with the chilling and sparse The Ring (which is part of the reason why he was hired for the supernatural seven-seas series in the first place). Well, Verbinski is returning to the genre in grand fashion with next year's anticipated A Cure for Wellness, which is an offbeat title for an offbeat movie that's starting to pull back its curtain and hint at its scares. An international, South Korean trailer for Fox's thriller hit the Web, and it's worth checking out. More on A Cure for Wellness after the vid:

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes? Using music, chanting, and an ominous shot of a disturbing bath tub, this teaser for A Cure for Wellness does a fantastic job of setting the gothic tone of the new movie, which stars Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth, and Jason Isaacs. After going up and over the lip of the bath, to reveal the disturbing replacement for water, the trailer devolves into a montage of imagery that -- if you freeze frame at the right time -- may give you nightmares. Especially if you have a teeth issue. Teeth. Why did it have to be teeth?!

We were lucky enough to recently attend a 20th Century Fox event in New York City where the first 30 to 40 minutes of Gore Verbinski's A Cure for Wellness screened. And while we're not yet able to get into specifics about what was shown, we can confirm what this trailer suggests -- that Dane DeHaan's character is going to endure some mental and physical trials at the hands of some demented physicians in this movie. The thing that helps A Cure for Wellness stand out is that it's NOT based on an existing property. There's no comic tie-in, no pre-existing source material from which Gore Verbinski and his team was pulling. Because of that, what we watched was wildly unpredictable, and unsettling... in the best way possible.

We'll get into the details for Gore Verbinski's A Cure For Wellness as we get closer to its release. The movie will be everywhere on February 17.

We might as well all pack up and go home, because at the moment the bad-guys are winning. The repercussions of Sony’s hacking are now starting to be felt around the movie industry, as New Regency has announced that work on Steve Carell’s potential new film set in North Korea had now been stopped.

At the time of its cancellation, the project was being developed for Gore Verbinski to direct with Steve Carell was going to play the lead. Steve Conrad, who has previously written The Weather Man, The Pursuit Of Happyness and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, had scribed what's been described as a paranoid thriller. In fact, production had already been pencilled in for March. But the recent hacking of Sony and the consequent threats to any screening of The Interview has led New Regency to decide that there wasn’t any point in making the movie. According to Deadline, insiders from the studio explained to the website, "it just makes no sense to move forward." This all apparently began internally, with the folks at Fox saying that they wouldn't be distributing the film. Thus, the plug was pulled.

It's worth noting that Gore Verbinski, who is best known as the director of three Pirates of the Caribbean films as well as The Lone Ranger, has two other films in development with New Regency. The filmmaker is also working on the horror movie A Cure For Wellness, which comes from Revolutionary Road’s writer, Justin Haythe, and has also been working on the sci-fi film Passengers. Meanwhile, Steven Conrad’s dismay at the cancellation of his untitled North Korea thriller will be softened by the fact that he is also working on another project with the studio, specifically a large-scale action comedy.

Before the cancellation of the North Korea-set film, the company had intended to shoot and release all three of these films one after another. However these plans have been forced to come to a screeching halt because of the threats over The Interview. What Steve Carell does next is anyone’s guess, but the fact that he is just coming off his most critically acclaimed performance to date in Foxcatcher means that he will probably be just fine.

The hacking of Sony has quickly turned into an outright disaster, and not just for Sony. For the uninitiated, this all began back on November 24th when Sony Pictures Entertainment’s headquarters was hacked. A cyber terrorist group known as Guardians of the Peace had orchestrated this invasion, and they instructed Sony that this was "just the beginning." Over the following days, Sony learned exactly what this meant. Leaked emails and private conversations between Sony’s executives and its studio head were obtained and then strewn across the internet. Reports then started to emerge saying that Sony believed North Korea was responsible for the hack in response to the impending release of The Interview - which revolves around the plot to kill North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un. North Korea insisted that they weren’t responsible, but that was followed by direct instructions from Guardians of Peace not to release The Interview. On December 16th they threatened to attack theaters that intended to show The Interview, making a direct reference to 9/11 in their message. When major theater chains began to cancel plans to show the film, Sony Pictures decided to cancel the release of The Interview altogether. Meanwhile, it’s now been heavily rumored that the U.S. government will confirm North Korea’s involvement in the attack over the next few days.

Should Sony Pictures have cancelled the release of The Interview? Most definitely. There is no point in even risking the lives of moviegoers. But it’s a sad state of affairs that it has actually come to this. Studios are now going to think twice about creating any movie that could lead to them being targeted. Now big, serious questions need to be asked. Why was Sony able to be hacked so easily? Where does cinema go from here? At the moment it feels like the movie industry is about to cave in on itself. Who would have thought that it would be all be because of a Seth Rogen movie?

It's been almost exactly ten years since the first Pirates of the Caribbean surprised the hell out of everyone by being pretty great, and it's easy to forget how genuinely wonderful that was. Johnny Depp was suddenly a mega-star, pirates were suddenly cool again, and Gore Verbinski proved that the right combination of action and humor could make even a theme park ride turn into a pretty great movie.

It's especially worth remembering that as we prepare for The Lone Ranger, which continues releasing new trailers like this one (via Apple)that feel much more in the spirit of the original Pirates, and come close to allowing us to forgive Verbinski for the mess of the second two. His and Depp's last collaboration, Rango, was also a Western of sorts, and the two seem to be bringing a similar jaunty energy to The Lone Ranger, though with the added benefit of an enormous budget and a ton of explosions. We're still not getting much of a sense of Armie Hammer's character here, but he's very clearly set up as the square-jawed straight man to Johnny Depp's wilder Tonto. Hopefully they're selling the movie on another outlandish Johnny Depp performance, but Hammer will do a better job anchoring the drama than, say, Orlando Bloom in the first Pirates.

The Lone Ranger arrives just in time for the July 4 holiday weekend, and after dropping a ton of money on the project, Disney will be working hard to guarantee it's a hit. Honestly, after being skeptical for a long time, I'm starting to think this could be a lot of fun. Anybody else willing to join me?

Though the early summer blockbusters like Star Trek Into Darkness and Iron Man 3 are stealing all the attention right now, it won't be long before we're gearing up for the July 4 holiday, and with it The Lone Ranger. The latest collaboration between Pirates of the Caribbean veterans Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp, plus Armie Hammer tossed in to play the title role, the movie looks big and comic and adventurous like the Pirates films, but with an Old West twist. And this latest trailer, which premiered at Yahoo!, shows off the humor more than any other-- which might be exactly what it needs to save it.

Not that The Lone Ranger necessarily needs saving. After a a shaky start of production that led to a tighter budget, The Lone Ranger started looking like the goofy, energetic fun that everyone has been trying to replicate since the first Pirates movie. And that goofiness was exactly what they surely needed, since every serious big-budget Western to give it a shot in recent years has flopped miserably-- Jonah Hex, Cowboys & Aliens and even Wild Wild West must have looked to Disney like zombies, threatening to drag Lone Ranger back into the grave with them. Even Disney's won recent flop John Carter had plenty of scenes taking place in desert identical to those in The Lone Ranger; anyone denying flashbacks would have been fooling themselves.

Which is why showing off the sense of humor in these Lone Ranger spots is incredibly important, even if the jokes in this one-- a girl who punches a guy and then kisses him?-- aren't especially fresh. The best moment comes through the editing of the trailer itself, when the music and the gunshots and the cuts all synch up for some rat-a-tat energy. Is there more of that in the movie itself? We sure hope so. Otherwise the graveyard of serious modern blockbuster Westerns might include The Lone Ranger despite everything.

We're nervous about The Lone Ranger for a lot of reasons, from the notoriously messy production to Gore Verbinski's final Pirates film to the simple fact that any time a studio spends a huge amount of money on a film, you can guarantee they'll at least attempt to sanitize it to death. Johnny Depp's brazen effort at playing a Native American character is another huge hurdle-- sure, he's part Cherokee, but white people playing Native Americans has been a huge Hollywood problem for decades. That said, Tonto's look on this new character poster? Very cool.

The new look at the character premiered (where else?) on Tumblr), and it came along with a poster for Armie Hammer's titular Lone Ranger, though there's not nearly as much makeup going on for him. Take a look at that one:

Here are the brief little bits of character description that came along with each of them:

Does this tell us anything about The Lone Ranger we didn't know already? Nah. Like Pirates of the Caribbean before it, this movie will succeed only if it manages to make something surprising, comic and hugely entertaining out of a very thin premise. Verbinski and Depp were justly celebrated for pulling ti off back in 2003-- it was based on a theme park ride, for God's sake-- and they've got a bonus in Hammer, who has way more personality than poor Orlando Bloom ever did. The Lone Ranger is coming to theaters July 3, as the linchpin of Disney's summer movie slate. Are you on board?

You might think massively budgeted misfires like John Carter and Battleship would have filmmakers wary of expensive pictures that require record-breaking box office to garner any profit. But with ongoing news of costly production problems on World War Z and The Lone Ranger, it seems Hollywood is still rolling the dice on movies with fast sinking prospects of profitability.

In the case of Disney's The Lone Ranger, the studio blanched and shut down production late last summer when its producers insisted the action adventure—which reunites Pirates of the Caribbean's director Gore Verbinski with Johnny Depp—would be around the $250 million mark. Estimates at the time figured that after print and advertising costs, the pic would have to make more than $800 million worldwide to be in the black. So Disney demanded the producers find some way to bring the cost down or else The Lone Ranger would not ride again.

From there, Depp and Verbinski took paycuts, which shaved off $10 million, and the script was rewritten, reportedly cutting out effects-heavy elements, including werewolves and " a massive train sequence." This brought the projected cost to $215 million, and Disney gave The Lone Ranger the greenlight once more. But now, THR reports that the production, which began on February 28th, is dragging along, days and possibly even weeks behind schedule, pulling it back up—and possibly over—the $250 million mark. Because of this, backers are forcing Verbinksi to make more cuts—during production—as on-set rewrites attempt to smooth the edges.

Though Verbinksi has a reputation for "budget-busting," he is not entirely to blame for this skyrocketing cost, as the production was repeatedly delayed by severe wind and dust storms that marred the costly set. (It's like Lost in La Mancha all over again!) As it stands now, The Lone Ranger is not expected to wrap production until August, meaning it'll have taken nearly half a year to get this behemoth through its shoot. While this still allows ample time to hit the film's scheduled release date of July 3, 2013, there's really no telling how much more money will be spent along the way, and by extension, how massive an opening The Lone Ranger will require to not be DOA.

At this year's E3 Microsoft showed off a number of games, definitely better than what they've done in the past two. One of the exclusives that was on display at this year's show was Gore Verbinski's much talked about foray into gaming, Matter.

The last we heard of Verbinski was that he was interested in making a BioShock movie that the studios wanted to hammer down hard with a PG-13 rating. Instead, he's gone on to the opposite end of the spectrum by joining forces with Microsoft and working on a game instead of a movie called Matter. Check out a brief teaser clip below.

It's interesting that such a prominent filmmaker would be joining forces with a game company to make a puzzle-type, rolling ball game set in a Tron-type universe. But filmmakers are no strangers to video games, with Steven Spielberg having his game Boom Blox make waves on the Nintendo Wii...although that didn't bode too well for the dev team in the end.

Regardless, Matter looks interesting. I'm not really sure how you play the game or what's up with that weird probing looking thing that the ball does at one point but hey, a new game exclusively for the Xbox 360 from the same guy who likes working with Johnny Depp is something...right? ...Right? Oh well.

Matter is due out next year exclusively for the Xbox 360.

The Lone Ranger just can't seem to keep things on track. The project has had a notably bumpy ride through production so far, complete with production shut downs, budget queries, and adjustments to the shooting schedule. The movie was originally going to come on in December of this year and was pushed back to May 31, 2013. Now it looks like the film is on the move again, as it has been pushed back by about a month.

The Exhibitor Relations Twitter account has revealed that The Lone Ranger, has been shiftedfrom May 31, 2013 to July 3, 2013. What's interesting about the news is that its taking over the slot that was just abandoned by Steven Spielberg's Robopocalypse and will now be competing against Independence Day 3D, which was just announced this afternoon. It's only other competition on the holiday weekend right now comes from Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2. While the Gore Verbinski-directed movie originally had no competition on May 31st, its release date was only one week after both The Hangover: Part III and Fast and Furious 6.

Based on a script written by Ted Elliott, Justin Haythe and Terry Rossio and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, The Lone Ranger stars Armie Hammer as the titular hero, Johnny Depp as Tonto, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, James Badge Dale, William Fichtner, and Barry Pepper. The film is still currently in production.

I'm really hoping that this movie is purely strategy and not an indication that the movie is falling behind schedule or in some kind of trouble. Guess we'll have to wait until July of next year to find out the motivation.

After what seemed like a thousand false starts, but what was really just one big one, Disney's enormous Lone Ranger is finally going into production, according to a press release sent wide today. We figured this was coming, of course, with the announcement that WIlliam Fichtner had signed on to replace Dwight Yoakam in one of the villainous roles, and of course the looming May 2013 release date, which Disney held on to even after production was bumped back. But now the cameras are officially rolling, and in no lack of locations either-- the release cites location shoots in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, which suggests that the Ranger and trusty Tonto will be running all over the desert in the course of their adventures.

Johnny Depp is the big name star of the film, reuniting with his Pirates director Gore Verbinski, but the title character is played by Armie Hammer, making a real push for leading-man stardom that will hopefully be boosted by his role in the upcoming Mirror Mirror. The release came with a plot synopsis that finally gives us a sense of how the story will happen, and explains how Depp's Tonto may wind up being the main character after all:

The Lone Ranger's cast is rounded out with a lot of character actors you'll be happy to see in pretty much anything-- in addition to Fichtner there's lead villain Tom Wilkinson, plus Barry Pepper, James Badge Dale, Ruth Wilson and Helena Bonham Carter. WIth everything finally shooting, the movie seems like it really will make the release date of May 31, 2013-- kicking off the summer in the company of the next Fast and Furious movie, the Star Trek sequel, Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim, and Iron Man 3, all of them also set for May releases.

Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger lost a big piece of the puzzle a couple days ago when it was announced that Dwight Yoakam would no longer be able to participate in the film. While this wouldn't have been a big issue if Yoakam was playing a random supporting character or bit part, but he had signed on to play one of the major bad guys working with Tom Wilkinson's big baddie. Needless to say, with production already delayed by budget concerns from last summer, Disney immediately got on their horse (if you can pardon the pun) and today it has been revealed who will be replacing Yoakam in the movie.

According to Deadline, character actor extraordinaire William Fitchner has been hired to take Dwight Yoakam's place in The Lone Ranger. The actor is currently filming the Navy SEAL drama Code Name: Geronimo, but he recently wrapped production on both Neill Blomkamp's Elysium and Todd Robinson's Phantom. The project is currently looking to film later this month so that it can meet its May 31, 2013 release date. The film has Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp attached to play the Lone Ranger and Tonto, respectively, while other supporting players include Helena Bonham Carter and James Frain.

Here's a fun fact: you can never go wrong by adding William Fitchner to your movie, and that goes double if you're getting him to play a villain. While he's great on an everyday basis, when he's allowed to be a snarky, dastardly prick he simply shines. Hence why he ranked #1 in our list of the 10 Best Performances In Terrible 2011 Movies.

Back when Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger was going through its financial struggles and the production was put on hold, one casualty was Tom Wilkinson, who exited the project to pursue various other roles. Now that Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer are back on the same page, however, Wilkinson is circling his wagons and showing interest in rejoining Ranger before shooting begins.

Wilkinson is “closing in on a deal” to play Latham Cole, the film’s chief villain, according to Deadline. He’s not the only one waiting to sign, however. In an effort to keep Verbinski’s train rolling, so to speak, the studio needs to complete deals with Barry Pepper, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale and Dwight Yoakam, though their specific roles are unclear at this time.

What we do know is that J. Edgar and Social Network star Armie Hammer is on the hook to play the Lone Ranger, while Verbinski and Bruckheimer staple Johnny Depp has agreed to play trusted sidekick Tonto. Deadline also says that Ranger is going after Luther star Ruth Wilson for the female lead. I wonder if there’s going to be an uncomfortable love triangle between the leading heroes in this formulaic blockbuster?

Verbinski’s Lone Ranger begins filming in February, aiming for a May 31, 2013 release date. Wilkinson, meanwhile, can be seen opposite Tom Cruise in Brad Bird’s Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, which reaches IMAX theaters on Dec. 16 and expands everywhere else on Dec. 21.

At this point many of you, if not most of you, know about the troubles going on behind the scenes of The Lone Ranger these past few months. Back in August the production was shut down when Disney decided that they didn't want to spend $250 million making a western (which is totally reasonable thing) and had producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and star Johnny Depp work on the movie to try and lower its costs. The proper moves and cuts were made and in the last couple weeks it was announced that the project will be moving forward with a $215 million budget and is now scheduled to be released on May 21, 2013. But exactly what changes were made that equated to $35 million in saved moolah? Bruckheimer recently spoke with THR about it and the answer is actually kind of disturbing.

While the producer did say that some scenes were cut - including a sequence involving "supernatural coyotes" and an "animated segment" - the big thing that ended up being changed was the production schedule. Bruckheimer said that they would be trying to avoid winter by having the production hop around to different states (including alifornia, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah), but that's not what's messed up about this story. According to the interview, one thing that has been changed is the structuring of shooting days, bunching together the scenes involving a lot of extras and the ones involving just the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Said Bruckheimer,

The big question I have is why the hell was this not the plan from the beginning? If they hadn't been forced to change things, they would have poured $10 million down the toilet simply by avoiding common sense. We are living in a time of economic crisis, as protesters occupy cities around the country, and these people are basically setting money on fire. What truly worries me is the fact that Bruckheimer treats this as though it's some kind of big revelation. Exactly how long has he been making movies in such an abhorrently wasteful fashion? This level of stupidity cannot continue.

When Disney pulled the plug on the Johnny Depp-starring adaptation of The Lone Ranger just days before it was supposed to go into production, it seemed kind of foolishly optimistic when sources said they would try and work it out. The throwback western was already budgeted for somewhere in the $250-$300 million range, and even if they brought it down to Disney's requested $200 million, it was still a massively expensive movie and a gamble, even if they had all the Pirates of the Caribbean brain trust back for it.

But work on the budget they did, and Deadline reports today that they seem to have finally reached a deal. Apparently the budget is down to a "manageable" $215 million, which still makes it more expensive than the entire worldwide gross of the last Western-themed blockbuster, Cowboys & Aliens. Sure, that movie had a bunch of other problems that had nothing to do with the Western setting, but the fact remains that Westerns are hard to sell no matter how many Johnny Depps you cast.

Of course, everyone said that pirate movies were hard to sell back in 2003, when director Gore Verbinski and Depp made one of the best blockbusters in recent memory with the first Pirates of the Caribbean. That movie was expensive at $140 million, but still not quite this expensive. Despite all this skepticism I really am glad they're going forward with The Lone Ranger, if nothing other than to give Armie Hammer to show of his cowboy chops in the title role. I'm impressed that enough inflated egos could pull it together and slash the budget to make this work-- but I'll only be truly impressed if they manage to take this much money and studio anticipation and actually turn out something good.

Right now Gore Verbinski is embroiled with Disney in an attempt to convince the studio that The Lone Ranger, his $250 million attempt to turn an old radio serial into a new blockbuster franchise. Things are looking good for the project, but apparently not so busy enough that Verbinski doesn't have time to make forward progress on some of his other producing projects. Deadline reports that Chernin Entertainment is about to acquire an untitled pitch by Mat Sazama and Burk Sharpless, which they plan to produce along with Vebinski.

And just like a lot of the other projects Verbinski has worked on-- except for the wonderfully weird Rango that is-- it sounds like the kind of idea that gets dollars signs flashing in studio eyes. Deadline describes it as "a futuristic Jungle Book," though they're not revealing any more details, in the grand tradition of tightly wrapping up any plot details about potentially gigantic projects. With the movie so vague and so early in the planning stages, it will be a long time before we get a real idea of what this is-- hell, it might be so long that The Lone Ranger might actually exist by then. Verbinski may be fighting hard to push that movie, with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, into actual reality, but he's clearly a director and producer who knows to keep all kinds of options open for himself as well.

It sounds like Disney’s about to get back in the saddle with Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, with an official announcement regarding the start of production potentially arriving next week.

If you haven’t been tracking the progress of the project, Disney pulled the plug on the Johnny Depp-Armie Hammer production weeks ago as budgets ballooned near $250 million. Reports surrounding the troubled production involved strange supernatural subplots tied to Depp’s Tonto character. One rumor even involved CGI werewolves which have subsequently been cut.

Last week, though, it was reported that Disney was inching closer to closing a deal that would put The Lone Ranger back into production, and now Deadline says that the stalemate likely will be resolved next week, with cameras rolling as early as January or February 2012.

The new budget, according to the report, is closer to $215 million after deals for Depp, Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were reworked. Disney’s hesitancy was tied, at the time, to the financial failure of Universal’s costly Cowboys & Aliens, which the site admits is going to cost the studio a "fortune" when all is said and done. Still, it was shocking that Disney would flinch on anything Verbinski and Depp wished to do together after the duo helped deliver the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

So, it sounds like The Lone Ranger is back on track. If the main players cut tighter deals, hopefully that means Verbinski can keep in some of the mystical elements that potentially would make the Wild West production a bit weird. There’s no confirmation if Disney’s back-and-forth means the film will back off of its previously announced Dec. 21, 2012 release date (where it would have gone head-to-head with Ang Lee’s Life of Pi and Brad Pitt’s World War Z). Disney move the release date back much like Warner Bros. did with its anticipated Superman reboot, Man of Steel. We’ll let you know the minute we hear any news regarding date shifts but for now, it looks like the Lone Ranger rides again. Are you happy?

When big news breaks late on a Friday night it's almost always bad, especially when it's a big Deadline story that starts with "SHOCKER!" That's how we all found out that The Lone Ranger, the huge Western with Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the titular hero, had been cancelled by Disney, even as production was gearing up in New Mexico. A few reasons seemed obvious on the surface, primarily the movie's ballooning price tag ($250 million or higher) and concerns about reviving a partly forgotten hero from the golden age of radio. But some evidence trickled through over the weekend that there's another culprit to blame: Cowboys & Aliens.

That $200 million sci-fi Western has tanked at the box office, making just $88 million worldwide so far, and according to Hollywood Elsewhere The Lone Ranger would have been a lot more similar to it than you would expect. An excerpt of the script posted there reveals that the plot would have involved werewolves, along with Native American occult remedies and spirituality and, it should go without saying by now, a lot of CGI special effects. Here's how an anonymous person familiar with the script describe it:

It's no surprise to hear that the story was going to focus on Tonto-- Depp, after all, is the world's biggest movie star, while Hammer is an up-and-comer who caught a seriously huge break getting cast in this thing. And I guess the mysticism shouldn't be a surprise either-- after all, look at how trippy Verbinski and Depp's last desert-set collaboration, Rango, managed to be. But it was entirely possible for this movie to be a lean, entertaining Western, a genre of movies that first came to exist because it was cheap to make; instead, producer Jerry Bruckheimer helped push for this to be yet another one of his expensive spectacles, and given that the fourth Pirates film is the only one of Bruckheimer's recent movies to be a hit, Disney rightly balked.

Deadline has updated their initial post to emphasize that The Lone Ranger could still happen-- an insider told them, ""Let's see how it all shakes out on Monday. There's always a chance that it could go. You never know until you know." Maybe Verbinski spent the weekend locked in a room with screenwriter Justin Haythe as they frantically reworked the script to cost less. Maybe they've ditched the whole werewolf idea entirely. It would be surprising if Disney dropped the project entirely, given how much money Depp has made them over the years and how much he deserves to do whatever the hell he wants. As surprising as the news on Friday was, if the result is a leaner, more efficient Lone Ranger, this may have all been for the better.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind that the new adaptation of the Clue board game is not in fact cancelled. Though Deadline is reporting that Universal has dropped the adaptation, to be directed by Gore Verbinski, in fact Verbinski is still sticking with it, and the game's manufacturer Hasbro is taking over the development and plans to produce the film alone with Verbinski's company, Blind Wink. It's another step in Hasbro's development as a serious force in film production, and probably a smart move on both ends, as Universal already has four Hasbro board game adaptations in the works and has yet to see how any of them pan out at the box office.

To focus on Clue for a minute, it's not just that things are still happening, but they're making actual progress-- Flash Gordon writers Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama has been brought on to work on the script, which previously had just been a bunch of ideas that Verbinski and the other producers were kicking around. Hasbro is also still developing the Ridley Scott-produced Monopoly movie, and just in June they set up an adaptation of Risk with Sony and Overbrook Entertainment. They're also still trying to make a movie out of Magic: The Gathering, though nobody is yet attached to that idea, and I can't exactly blame them-- there's a tricky challenge if you ever wanted one.

Meanwhile, Hasbro is still working with Universal as part of the seven-game deal they signed in 2008; next spring we'll really see how this pans out when Battleship hits theaters, and at some point after that we'll start seeing Candy Land, Ouija and Stretch Armstrong all translated into film. Hasbro hasn't quite become the independent production force that Marvel Studios is, but they may not be so far away from it, especially with the massive successes of G.I. Joe and the Transformers movies already behind them. One more set of hits like that, and they'll have the power to make as many board game adaptations as they please-- meaning that Lite Brite movie might not be so far away after all.

Heigh Ho Silver, away! Ride like the wind to Dec., 21 2012, which is when Walt Disney intends to open Jerry Bruckheimer’s big-budget reboot of The Lone Ranger.

Armie Hammer, last seen playing twins in David Fincher’s The Social Network, saddles up alongside Johnny Depp’s Tonto for director Gore Verbinski’s production, which, according to the Hollywood Reporter, takes place in 1869 and focuses on a Texas Ranger who fights Western criminals with the aid of his trusty Indian sidekick. Verbinski, of course, directed the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films with Depp in tow. Earlier this year, the duo teamed for the animated Rango, a box-office smash that has taken in $241 million worldwide to date.

But Verbinski’s Lone Ranger will face some stiff competition during that holiday season. Peter Jackson’s first installment of a two-part Hobbit adaptation hits theaters a week prior on Dec. 14. Meanwhile, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi adaptation recently moved to Dec. 21 to avoid Jackson’s epic, but now will face Ranger, Relativity’s Hunter-Killer and an as-yet-untitled Judd Apatow comedy. The Ranger may need a lot more than his usual sidekick and six-shooter to beat out all that competition.

I hate to say it, but the titular character in Gore Verbinski's upcoming adaptation of The Lone Ranger may be a thankless role. Johnny Depp has been attached as Tonto for ages and it was previously confirmed that the hero-sidekick dynamic will be flipped, putting the masked cowboy in the passenger's seat. That said, it still is a high profile gig - working alongside Depp alone assures that - and it would be a perfect fit for a young, up-and-coming actor. Hence why this is great news.

Deadline has learned that Armie Hammer has entered negotiations to star as The Lone Ranger. The story is quite slim on details and doesn't go much further than saying that the talks are still at the nascent stages. Hammer, one of the most in-demand actors following his critically lauded performance in David Fincher's The Social Network, has quite the full plate at the moment, but seeing as production isn't scheduled to begin until next year he should be able to make it work into his schedule.

The Social Network was easily my favorite film of last year and every single actor in the cast deserves credit, recognition, and work, particularly Hammer, who pulled double-duty as both Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. This project would be perfect for him, earning him attention in demographics that didn't pay enough attention to Fincher's film, and could easily launch him on to the A-list.

The Logan's Run remake has seemingly been in the works as long as The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp, but Ryan Gosling may find a way to be in both. According to The Wrap Gosling, already set to star in Logan's Run, is also in talks to play the titular character in the Disney project, in which Depp will play the intrepid Native American sidekick Tonto, and which Gore Verbinski will direct.

The Wrap points out that his Logan's Run commitment may make the Disney movie impossible-- that dystopian sci-fi movie starts shooting in the fall, and presumably The Lone Ranger may be aiming for similar dates, though given that it's not scheduled for release until 2014 they've got plenty of time to work with. Gosling has been leaning far heavier on indie projects since reaching teen heartthrob status in The Notebook a few years back, but doing both of these movies would be, well, a very Johnny Depp circa 2000 move. Both actors can be so mannered and out-there in their performances that it's kind of hard to imagine them sharing the same frame, but then again, it's a weird combination that might make for something far more interesting than your average blockbuster.

Hot off the boots of his well-received animated Western Rango, director Gore Verbinski has decided to switch direction and jobs, signing on to executive produce The Brink. The project is a drama set to air on Starz and adapted from Personal Effects: Dark Art written by J.C. Hutchins. The source material, described as a supernatural thriller, won rave reviews amongst both fans and critics, prompting some online extension work and heavy interest in an adaptation. Starz was the most persistent of those adaptation suitors, and together with Gore Verbinski will lead the project toward its debut, likely to happen next year.

According to Deadline, Grudge writer Stephen Susco is working on the script which will follow an art therapist doctoring a notorious killer claiming he had premonitions about the murders but did not commit them himself.

New projects work a bit differently on premium channels. While the vast majority of pilots are ultimately discarded by the major networks, HBO, Showtime and Starz typically give full season orders to the most projects they pursue. With such a talented behind the scenes staff in place, The Brink should have no problem luring high profile talent into the fold.

Director Gore Verbinski kicked off his career in 1997 directing the family comedy Mousehunt. Following that, in 2001 he switched target audiences and made The Mexican, an action/comedy with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. Changing it up yet again in 2002, he helmed The Ring, which scared the pants off audiences nationwide. Next he went all out and made the raucous adventure comedy Pirates of the Caribbean and then turned around to make the Nicolas Cage comedy/drama The Weather Man. If the pattern isn’t already clear, Verbinski is a director that doesn’t like to make the same movie over and over, and that’s certainly on display in his newest venture, the animated film Rango.

Reteaming the director with star Johnny Depp for the fourth time, the new film is Verbinski’s first venture into full-blown animation, but it fits him like a glove. As a piece of art, I make no hesitation in calling it one of the most beautiful animated films I have ever seen and it’s so incredibly bizarre that it keeps you engaged from beginning to end. Naturally I was elated when I heard that I would have the opportunity to speak with the director one-on-one.

Amongst the many topics discussed, Verbinski told me about the strange language he has developed with his star, how Oscar nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins came to be involved with the project and how the film’s two incredible cameos came together. Check it out below!

WARNING: Some may view parts of this article as spoilers and while I don’t think they are, I want to make sure to keep all of our readers happy. They are clearly marked, so if you wish not to be "spoiled", simply read around the marked area.

You and Johnny Depp have now worked on four films together, so you obviously enjoy each other’s company. What’s the dynamic between the two of you on set? Also, have you, Johnny and Tim Burton sat down yet to discuss some sort of timeshare system?

You know, it’s funny, I met Tim just briefly. It takes two, two and a half years to make a movie, particularly a complicated film, and Johnny can do six movies in that time. I think the timeshare thing just happens by virtue of the calendar. Johnny and I developed a language. I’ll say something like, “Put some more fuzz on that. That was good, but a little stinkier right here.” And he totally knows exactly what I mean. I’ll use sound effects to direct him sometimes. Sometimes I’ll start with cadence, use musical metaphors. I try to push and find something awkward. The gems to me are truly awkward situations and you have to have somebody who’s willing to fail because those can’t be conceived. They never play if they’re thought about and discussed too much. You have to create them right at the moment and look for something honest. There are a lot of carcasses on the side of the road, I can assure you that.

In terms of your career, you’ve developed a trademark of eclecticism and never really do the same thing twice – the obvious exception being the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. That said, very few directors ever make that leap from live-action to animation. What spurred the decision to make this movie?

Well, I think it’s really great to do something that you’re not sure you can do. I’ve certainly thought that about The Ring and I thought that about the first Pirates. When you wake up at three in the morning in a cold sweat you’re brain is just firing a lot faster, you’re a little scared. And I just think it’s growth when you pursue something you’re not sure you can do. It’s too hard a job I can always sell real estate for the rest of my life. Learn on the job training. That’s what keeps me going. People ask me, “Would you make another animated movie?” as if animation is some genre, and there are 2,000 animated shots in the Pirates films, so it depends on the story. It really depends on the story, what it is about the story that I find compelling and a little dangerous.

You mentioned that you used extensive animation on the Pirates movies, but have you ever had experience making a full-blown, 100% CGI animated film before Rango?

Well, sequences. And we do a lot of pre-vis and storyboarding and quite often I’ll use…I’ve never created a full story reel of a movie, this is my first time doing that, but certainly developed a very similar approach to elaborate action sequences. We felt quite comfortable, and my relationship with Hal Hickel and John Knoll and the guys at [Industrial Light and Magic], we’ve worked so much together. There’s a language there that I had an opportunity to draw upon. You strike up relationships with people, you get a team together.

Watching some of the behind-the-scenes featurettes I love how you actually had the actors perform their roles. Speaking with animation directors I’m always curious as to how they get the actors into the right mindset when they are just sitting in a booth.

I think everybody uses a technique that they’re comfortable with. If you’ve never directed actors or you’ve spent a tremendous amount of time doing the story reel and recording voices, temp voices, the entire time, so becoming very attune to the pitch I want and they’re trying things and failing and so you get that really sharp target. And I could see an animation director trying to hire an actor and have them do exactly what you’ve been doing for the last year and a half. But I got Ned Beatty and Harry Dean Stanton I’m going to see them together. This is the story, this is your character, I have the sense of the landscape, I have the sense of the scene, I have all that stuff. But I’m also looking for something else to happen, an accident or something. You’re focused on the story you intend to tell and then you have to have a peripheral net out to catch these accidents.

From all of the footage you collected, is there a live-action version of Rango floating around somewhere out there?

No, I mean those clips that they showed were really the bi-product of a process. Those are 100% pursuit of a lively soundtrack and something real. There were a couple gifts along the way; probably about 15% of it I would use as reference from time to time to show an animator, but it may be completely different scenes. This is this person reacting to something and look how natural that reaction is. Take that reaction and put that in this scene.

One of the cooler things I noticed while watching the credits during my screening was that Roger Deakins worked as a visual consultant on this film and he, of course, just worked with the Coen brothers on another Western, True Grit. What was the extent of his job and what was it like working with him?

I called Roger about two months in when the lighting technicians were inundating me with questions about…let me jump back a bit. As we started to light scenes they moved the camera around and I think they expected the lights to stay in the same place and I was like, “We would never do that.” I would do layout, which is a different process where it was all about camera, not about lighting, and it was cheating and moving. [Note: Where I was sitting there was a thermostat above my head and my chair was against a wall] I would put you somewhere else because the thermostat is too close to your head and this wall would go to do an over-the-shoulder and I would put a negative on the floor to reduce the fill light. We’d be having these discussions endlessly about how we do when we make a movie and I was just like, “Roger, help. Too many questions.”

He came in and seemed to really enjoy what we were doing and had some great tips and then he was just basically at the end of a phone or an email. Every time we would set up a shot and start the lighting discussion I’d say, “Have you sent this to Roger yet?” There’s always two suns in the movie because we always shoot that direction [points towards me] and then we shoot that direction [points away from me]. And usually we would orienting ourselves facing south, so we would get a decent light on there. For scenes that wasn’t happening, in the computer you could just leave the sun there. So all of those discussions Roger was just… I have a rudimentary understanding of that, and so we’d talk at length about the look of the film and he was just at the end of a telephone whenever we needed him.

I’m still amazed by the fact that he hasn’t won an Oscar.

He hasn’t?

No, he’s been nominated eight times before this year and has never won.

That’s unbelievable.

SPOILERS

Another one of my favorite parts in this film is the cameo by Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Zeta Acosta at the start of the movie, which is obviously a reference to Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, in which Johnny Depp also starred. Even further, the movie’s poster seems to be a reference to the poster for Gilliam’s film. As a huge Thompson fan myself I’m curious where that idea came from.

I grew up reading all of Hunter’s stuff and was certainly a fan. This one was a little random in the sense that the movie had been designed, almost the entire story reel was completed, the character Rango had been designed with this kind of tropical shirt and this attitude of Gonzo-ness, if you will. And then we were looking at the first reel and that sequence, with all of the chaos and cars and the bounding to the other, to the other, to the other, around the highway. “How can this be a little more interesting, because it feels just like an animated movie? Bouncing around, hitting windshields…” and somebody suggested, “What if we saw Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo driving through in the Cadillac?” And I was like, “No, no, it’s not enough to see them drive through. He needs to at least hit the windshield and see Hunter S. Thompson react.” And I knew immediately in this 16 month story reel that Johnny would just have a kick playing two characters.

So Johnny did the voice for Hunter?

Oh yeah [laughs]. It’s not “Wow, what the hell is that?” it’s “Whoa, there’s another one!” [laughs] He’s been seeing lizards all day.

Along those same lines, this film has another cameo. I knew Timothy Olyphant was playing a character named The Spirit of the West going in to the film, but it wasn’t until I was watching the scene that I realized that he actually sounds a lot like a young Clint Eastwood. As cool as that was, though, was there ever an attempt made to have Clint do the voice?

No, I knew it was going to be a parody from the very beginning and in the early stages we had this concept that he’s going to commune with The Spirit of the West, and what is that? And we just came to this conclusion that here’s this actor who is very much in tune with Greek heroes and Shakespearian heroes and Sergio Leone – he’s definitely clocked the fact that he’s entered a western genre. So his hallucination or his communing with this eternal spirit, how would that manifest itself? And it just seemed obvious that it should be a Man With No Name in this identity quest. And then just hearing in my peripherals – I don’t know what movie it was – I was just hearing this voice and I was like, “What’s that?” And it was Timothy Olyphant. And I called him and he said, “I get that all the time.”

END SPOILERS

Way back in 2010, we had the misfortune to be bearers of bad news: Bioshock, if it’s ever made, will have to be watered down to fit a PG-13. If you missed it, read our full scoop right here, because this weekend former Bioshock director Gore Verbinski confirmed that depressing state of things for the would be video game to movie.

Not long ago Verbinski dropped the project, deciding he didn’t want to do it. Talking to Coming Soon Verbinski now admits that he quit because he couldn’t find any backers willing to let him make it with an R-rating. He explains, “I couldn't really get past anybody that would spend the money that it would take to do it and keep an R rating, Alternately, I wasn't really interested in pursuing a PG-13 version. Because the R rating is inherent.”

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who’s been staying abreast of Hollywood’s current view of the R-rating. It’s rapidly becoming the new NC-17 with everything, whether it suits the kid-friendly rating or not, being modified to fit the MPAA’s demands. In an environment where there’s even talk of retroactively censoring Oscar nominated films to inflate box office totals, what chance does a massively expensive movie like Bioshock have?

Verbinski got what Bioshock was all about, and now he’s gone. If this movie ever does get made, it sounds like it’ll only happen when whoever makes it is willing to compromise the material.

Come this Sunday,the football players of Green Bay and Pittsburgh will be feeling a lot of pressure, but so will many of the major movie studios. As announced two weeks ago, the Super Bowl is going to be the home of fourteen new trailers. One of those titles is the new Gore Verbinski film Rango, but it won't be the premiere.

Trailer Addict has released the 30 second for the animated movie that will be shown during one of the thousands of commercial breaks of the big game. In the film, Johnny Depp voices Rango, a chameleon who is abandoned by his owners in the middle of the desert. Trying to survive, he finds himself in a western town and is given the duty of getting rid of the local bandits.

Check out the trailer below.

As much as I liked this short trailer, I really am curious how the general audience is going to react to it. The whole thing is so self-consciously weird that I have to imagine some people will be turned off by it. On the other hand, the detail of the animation, done by Industrial Light & Magic, is absolutely brilliant. When you're sitting around the TV with all of your family and friends and this trailer comes on, feel free to leave a note in the comments section about their reactions - that is unless everyone in the room decides to go into the kitchen for some more chips and dip.

A few weeks ago I trekked over to the Paramount screening room to see some footage from next spring's animated adventure Rango, and much to my surprise, I was totally impressed. The first movie Gore Verbinski has made since Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and starring Jack Sparrow himself Johnny Depp, Rango looks jangly and silly but also very,very weird, influenced by everything from old-school Westerns to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In a world when even Pixar is making sequels, Rango looks likes something 100% unique.

A key part of the Rango marketing campaign is the wind-up goldfish that are Rango's favorite toy-- or something. I'm not totally sure what they mean, but they're a key part of a new poster for the film, which hit today at Yahoo! Movies and you can see below. Rango, the now-familiar bug-eyed chameleon, is clutching his wind-up goldfish and flanked by the residents of Dirt, the Western town where he arrives and pretends to be a famous killer. It's hard to get into many more plot details without confusing you-- and confusing myself too, since I'm telling you, this movie is weird-- so just check out the poster and look forward to Rango on March 4. I've got a good feeling about this one.

After years of being stuck in development hell, things are finally moving forward on the film adaptation of The Lone Ranger, starring Johnny Depp. The project recently named Gore Verbinski as its director (it will be his fifth time working with the actor after Rango comes out next year), but still has one major roadblock: they don't have anyone playing the title character. With Depp playing the sidekick, Tonto, however, the production will require an equal or bigger name for The Lone Ranger, and Depp already has two names in mind. Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Depp revealed that two names at the top of his list are George Clooney and Brad Pitt. The actor has never done a feature film with either one, though Pitt did guest star in an episode of 21 Jump Street back in 1987.

As I see it, there is only one problem with these two possible choices: there won't be a man on the planet who will be able to go see the movie because every theater will be packed with swooning females. Outside of that, though, either one sounds dynamite.

Frequent Johnny Depp associate and rumored director of a possible Clue reimagining Gore Verbinski has officially agreed to helm The Lone Ranger for Disney. A few months ago, we reported some rumors on his possible involvement, but now we know for sure, which is strange considering so much about the project is still up in the air.

According to Deadline, there’s still no production date. There’s also no Lone Ranger, which seems like a fairly important piece of casting, but with Johnny Depp on board to play Tonto, Jerry Bruckheimer producing and now Verbinski at the helm, something tells me The Lone Ranger will be able to cast whoever and shoot wherever they want. Really, the larger question is whether audiences will still be interested in watching The Lone Ranger.

Re-runs of the old television program may be running in syndication somewhere, but many from the internet generation don’t know about Silver or whoever the bad guy is. They certainly didn’t care about that horrible made for TV version with Chad Michael Murray, but something tells me this one might be a little better. Only time will tell, some, yet to be determined, length of time.

At one point the only figurines you could get of Bioshock’s Big Daddy were collectible items that cost you a pretty penny, but if the movie ever drops don’t be surprised to see $6 action figures of those same Big Daddies appear with detachable drills and pulley-strings that release a low, guttural moan. Why should gamers expect kiddie toys from a rather adult franchise? Simple, Hollywood isn’t sure adult gamers are a big enough audience to justify a hard-R rating, which means that Bioshock could be a hard PG-13 instead.

We first heard rumors of trouble back in July when producer Gore Verbinski revealed that the movie was held up over budgetary concerns. They’re still in a holding pattern, but we’ve heard from our sources that it’s not so much the budget that’s the hold up, Universal is willing to give him what he needs, but only if he waters the movie down to a PG-13 rating. But Bioshock is a distinctly R-rated game and Verbinski is determined to hang on to that R-rated vibe. Unfortunately it’s make the movie PG-13 with the money he needs or do it rated-R and on the cheap. If you’ve ever played Bioshock, then you know there’s just no way to make this game into a proper movie on the cheap.

Talks are still ongoing and we’ve heard from our sources that Verbinski and Bioshock director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo are determined to stick with an R-rating while the studio has been exploring ways to make the game PG-13 friendly. They’d do it by changing different plot elements around. For instance one of the big ratings problems is the little Sisters. In the game they’re little kids who basically run around sucking fluids out of people with needles, fluids which they then drink. Little girls needling the blood out of victims will never get past the MPAA. So they might have the lumbering Big Daddy character, who serves as their protector in the game, use his claw-hands to jam big needles into the Rapture residents, siphoning fluids out, and then inject those fluids into the little Sisters himself. That sounds incestuous and even creepier than having the Sisters drink fluids straight out of the vile, if you ask me.

With the third game in the series, BioShock Infinite, right around the corner a movie might hurt the franchise more than help it if it isn’t done right. And Universal really wants this to be a big movie franchise. Even though they still haven’t decided how they’ll make it, our source says they’re already brainstorming the possibility of a sequel and there’s interest in the aforementioned Infinite as well.

Ultimately, though, fans of Bioshock will seemingly get one of two movies: A hard-R low-budget flick that might induce cringes and frowns, or a big-budget family-friendly action movie that will undoubtedly induce frowns and cringes. Sounds like a no-win situation for Bioshock fans. Pick your poison.

Remember that announcement piece that came out for Gore Verbinski's Rango early last month? While the film is about a chameleon dealing with an identity crisis, the first bit of promotional material featured a giant, orange toy fish floating across the desert. It made very little sense then and makes even less sense now. So what exactly was that?

Fortunately, Comic Con has delivered the answer. The fish's name is Mr. Timms and he is a super special fish who is here to spread joy and happiness. Featured in his own booth on the exhibit floor, smaller versions of the toy were handed out freely to all patrons. You can check out the viral site here, but be sure to scope out the photos below first.

Gore Verbinski spent years planning to direct an adaptation of the video game Bioshock before bailing on it last year, primarily because he didn't think he would ever get the budget necessary to make the movie any good. Directing duties were passed along to 28 Weeks Later's Juan Carlos Fresnadillo while Verbinski stayed on board as a producer, presumably as a big name to ensure the funding came rolling in.

That handover happened nearly a year ago, and since then we've heard virtually nothing about the movie's progress. Recently IGN caught up with Verbinski and pestered him for an update, and he basically still had the same promise for fans: we want to make this movie good, and until we can get the money to do that, it won't happen.

The "hard R" promise is typical catnip trotted out by directors to pacify anxious fans-- remember how Joe Johnston trumpeted The Wolfman's R rating and how much good that did?--and Verbinski is totally right to recognize that making an expensive, hard-R video game adaptation is damn near impossible. Video game movies are very hard to pull off, and following The Prince of Persia's mediocre box office performance, it may be even longer before another studio greenlights a particularly expensive adaptation. So while it's good to hear that Verbinski is sticking by the project while he goes off to do other things, his cautions should be taken seriously: this is not a project we should expect to see any time soon.

So, it's finally arrived. After weeks of toy fish, gophers, and Fear and Loathing-esque posters, we actually get to find out what Gore Verbinski's Rango is all about.

Apple has premiered the first full-length trailer for the film - complete with actual characters and dialogue - and it still looks about 10 steps past weird... in a good way. Johnny Depp plays Rango, an Acapulco shirt-wearing pet chameleon who is abandoned by his family in the middle of the Mojave desert. Surrounded on all sides by nothingness, he finds himself in a world he has never been exposed to. Encountering giant toads and mariachi owls, avoiding predatory hawks and trying to figure out who he is, the little lizard has a lot on his plate and he doesn't seem to be handling the stress very well.

Check out the trailer below or in HD over at Apple.

UPDATE: When the poster came online yesterday I remarked how similar it was to the poster for Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, a film that starred Johnny Depp as Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Upon reviewing the trailer, guess who is driving the car that Rango flies in to? None other than the good doctor himself. Check out the screencap below and click it to see it in its highest resolution.

Gore Verbinski's Rango remains a bit of a mystery. Even after an announcement piece came out earlier this month, audiences were perplexed why a movie about a chameleon suffering from an identity crisis would be advertised with a giant toy fish. Even stranger, the film sports a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Ray Winstone, and Timothy Olyphant, and not a single character was revealed. The newest update to the film's website doesn't give us much information as to who the characters are, but at least we get to see them.

When the site first launched alongside the announcement piece it featured a long strip of desert, and not much more. Now there are all kinds of interactive goodies, three of which reveal some characters from the film:

• The guitar - Scrolling over the guitar produces a strum, but if you wave your mouse over the strings long enough, an owl wearing a mariachi hat shows up on screen to play a little diddy on his electric guitar.
• 
  
• The toad - On the right side of the first screen you can see what, at first glance, appears to be a gray lump. Clicking on the lump, however, reveals that it is actually a giant cane toad who is trying to catch some z's. Clicking on him multiple times will result in different reactions, all of which have the same general message: go away.
• 
  
• The pillbug/gophers - After clicking on the toad, move your mouse slowly down and to the right - this should reveal a second page. Click on what appears to be a ball (and is actually a pillbug) and it will roll into a nearby gopher hole. If you do this enough times, a pair of gophers will emerge and will say something about a bank and making a wrong turn. It seems that these two little rodents are trying to pull off a heist.

Unfortunately, I can't pick out any of the individual voices, but perhaps you can. The rest of the site is full of goodies that don't produce characters, such as a radio that plays soft country music and a plastic palm tree that you can use to chuck rocks at cars, but are fun to mess with nonetheless. Check it out over at RangoMovie.com.

David Fincher, the man behind memorable music videos like Madonna's Express Yourself, not to mention Fight Club and Zodiac, is working hard to get his passion project Heavy Metal off the ground again, two years after Paramount dropped the project, according to Deadline. Only this time around, he's got a little bit more muscle behind him.

The project is billed as an anthology much in the vein of the 1981 original animated film, bringing the "World's Foremost Adult Illustrated Fantasy Magazine" to life. That all means it'll be hard-edged, loud, sexy, and as in-your-face as you could ever hope for a movie to be. Fincher has several directors lined up to put together segments of the film, most notably James Cameron, Zack Snyder (300 and Watchmen for the uninitiated) and himself.

Bringing on the highest-grossing film director of all time will certainly get financiers and distributors to look at Heavy Metal in a different light. At some point Cameron will surely say, "I want to do my bit in 3D," so expect most of if not all of this film to penetrate your theater as violently as possible. The entirety of Heavy Metal will use 3D animation, but no word on if it will be performance capture or Pixar-style animation.

Ninja Turtles creator Kevin Eastman and Pirates director Gore Verbinski were originally set to direct segments when it was still housed at Paramount, but the game has changed and there's no word on their current involvement. More on this as writers and directors climb on board.

The Bioshock movie may be back on track. Variety says director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to helm the film for Universal Pictures. Juan Carlos is best known Stateside for directing 28 Weeks Later, the sequel to Danny Boyle’s successful pseudo zombie film 28 Days Later.

Fresnadillo is stepping in for Gore Verbinksi, former Pirates of the Caribbean helmer who back June said, basically, that he didn’t think Bioshock was possible because they weren’t going to give him enough money. He needed money because in order to fit it into his schedule he had to direct it in the United States where everything is (at least until our government is overthrown by crazed town hall protestors and descends into total anarchy) more expensive. Universal wanted to save money and shoot overseas and so now here comes Fresnadillo, a director best known for shooting large-scale, effects-heavy movies on the cheap.

Here’s the thing: I’m not sure you can actually do a Bioshock movie on the cheap. The game is a series of endless, massive, mind-boggling and atmospheric set pieces which should look incredible on screen… but only if you spend a lot of money on them. Of course that could be precisely why Universal is so keen to shoot it overseas, so they can afford the kind of massive effects work they’ll need to realize it. Or they could be hiring Fresnadillo to save a buck and churn out something cheesy on the cheap. Who’s feeling optimistic?

We’ve known for awhile now that some of Hollywood’s most powerful genre directors are collectively working on a new Heavy Metal movie, though when or how it might happen has remained hidden. Well add another name to the Heavy Metal director list, which already included David Fincher, Gore Verbinski, Zack Snyder, and Kevin Eastmen. Now James Cameron is in.

It was Eastman who leaked the news of Cameron's involvement to FSR. He tells them, “Fincher and James Cameron are going to be Co-Executive Producers on the film. Fincher will direct one. Cameron will direct one. Zack Snyder is going to direct one and Gore Verbinski is going to. Mark Osborne and Jack Black from Tenacious D are going to do a comedy segment for the film.”

They’re not stopping there either. Eastman says they'll have three more big name directors to announce at some point down the road.

Heavy Metal started out as a magazine which mixed science fiction and fantasy storytelling with hand-drawn erotica. Think bosomy babes in various, clingy, fantasy outfits. Later, in 1981, it became an animated movie composed of short science fiction and fantasy stories adapted from the magazine. With experienced, R-rated genre directors like Snyder and Cameron involved, there's actually a pretty good chance here that this new version may retain much of the kinky, edgy flavor of previous incarnations.